Next up was a Top 10 recording of "Tonight," Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's song from "West Side Story" in 1961.
They soon became known as the Movie Theme Team after releasing themes from "One-Eyed Jacks" (1961), "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962), "Cleopatra" (1963) and others. They finished the decade in 1969 by earning a Top 10 hit with the theme from “Midnight Cowboy,” based on John Barry's soundtrack tune.
" 'The Apartment' record came out while we were on tour, and after just a couple weeks we started noticing our audiences were acting different," Teicher told the Chicago Tribune in 1987. "Whereas before they would be listening raptly to our classical music, now they were rustling their programs and obviously not too interested in what was going on. So we did the only thing we could: We switched styles, and we haven't regretted it for a minute."
Arthur Richard Ferrante was born Sept. 7, 1921, in New York City. Three years older than Teicher, he entered Juilliard at age 9. They both studied piano with Carl Friedberg, and Ferrante graduated in 1940.
He returned to Juilliard a few years later as a piano instructor and played at night in clubs with Teicher. In the late '40s, the duo began touring the United States and Canada and in 1952 made their first recordings.
Showmen from the start, they weren't content to merely play notes from a sheet of music. They began altering their pianos, adding mutes and other objects such as metal chains, glass, wood and cardboard to the strings to create different sounds. And they didn't only strike the keys, they would pluck, pound or strum the strings inside the piano to make alternative sounds.
These "gimmicks," as they called them, landed them spots on the leading TV variety programs of the day, including "The Ed Sullivan Show," "The Tonight Show," “The Dean Martin Show,” and invitations to perform at the White House for presidents Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan.
Ferrante is survived by his wife, Jena; a daughter, Brenda Eberhardt; and two granddaughters.
claire.noland@latimes.com
They soon became known as the Movie Theme Team after releasing themes from "One-Eyed Jacks" (1961), "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962), "Cleopatra" (1963) and others. They finished the decade in 1969 by earning a Top 10 hit with the theme from “Midnight Cowboy,” based on John Barry's soundtrack tune.
" 'The Apartment' record came out while we were on tour, and after just a couple weeks we started noticing our audiences were acting different," Teicher told the Chicago Tribune in 1987. "Whereas before they would be listening raptly to our classical music, now they were rustling their programs and obviously not too interested in what was going on. So we did the only thing we could: We switched styles, and we haven't regretted it for a minute."
Arthur Richard Ferrante was born Sept. 7, 1921, in New York City. Three years older than Teicher, he entered Juilliard at age 9. They both studied piano with Carl Friedberg, and Ferrante graduated in 1940.
He returned to Juilliard a few years later as a piano instructor and played at night in clubs with Teicher. In the late '40s, the duo began touring the United States and Canada and in 1952 made their first recordings.
Showmen from the start, they weren't content to merely play notes from a sheet of music. They began altering their pianos, adding mutes and other objects such as metal chains, glass, wood and cardboard to the strings to create different sounds. And they didn't only strike the keys, they would pluck, pound or strum the strings inside the piano to make alternative sounds.
These "gimmicks," as they called them, landed them spots on the leading TV variety programs of the day, including "The Ed Sullivan Show," "The Tonight Show," “The Dean Martin Show,” and invitations to perform at the White House for presidents Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan.
Ferrante is survived by his wife, Jena; a daughter, Brenda Eberhardt; and two granddaughters.
claire.noland@latimes.com
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